Off on vacation!

We all know the value of vacation time  We dream about where we are going, we make plans, book hotels, and meet up with family and friends.

The Europeans know the value of vacations as they have a government-mandated, paid 5 weeks time off a year.

It means time to slow down, let the body relax and mind think on stuff other than our daily lives. When it comes to an end, we pick up, with more energy, our lives as we know it.

One of my coaching clients just returned from a month's vacation and sounds completely different. She has a lightness to her voice from having regained her sense of self and has a new perspective on how to move forward in her life and business. Plus her great sense of humor has returned full force.
 
So before I return from vacation, rested and renewed, I wonder what the rest of the world does to  maintain the sense of renewal and carry it forward until the next vacation?

Quicknote:  "No Touch Monkey" by Ayun Halliday is the funniest travel adventure book I have read in a very long while.  High recommend reading it.

How would you do it?  Comments most welcome.

Change is good for the heart!

Change is good for the heart and the soul.  After five years, I am retiring the Innerwealth brand and moving forward with Strategies for Growth.

This new company is focused on creating Client Retention Programs for service organizations. Firms such as Consultants and Adviors, PR firms and law firms will benefit from the focus The Good the Bad and The Ugly program brings to their bottom line.  My clients have experienced at uptick in revenues of over 450%.


Stay tuned - more coming.

IP Tragedies

The creation of a great idea has intrinsic value, meaning that in and of itself it creates revenue.

Scissors - these were invented to cut with more accuracy than a knife.  Sharp, small and large scissors will cut through just about anything.  So scissors have an intrinsic value that no matter how you color them, package them, sell them, they still cut.  A patent protects the invention, the license creates the money.

So why do inventors give away the patent? 

I worked with a company owner 4 years ago to help her raise money for her start up.  She had a patent  that was the "unique value proposition" of her business.  Fast forward 4 years, $10 million raised in Venture Capital, a languishing economy and less revenue coming in.  The VC's (fondly referred to as Vulture Capitalists) stepped in and ousted her and her top management team.

And they now own her patent!

Her patent had intrinsic value with a wide application across a variety of business segments outside her own company that it resembled a permit to print money.

Her buyout included options, stock and a cash buyout.  But not her patent. The company holds the patent and the venture capitalists own the company. 

Should the company fail, she will lose the value of all her options and stock, which means she will be left with - NOTHING.  The VC's own the patent and they will make the money by licensing it out.
 
May I mention that she is a brilliant experienced serial entrepreneur and had created her most recent company to help WOMEN?

I would like to opt on the side of success.  That the VC's will appoint a new CEO with the passion and focus to make the company successful.

But the lesson remains the same:

If you thought of it, if you invented it, file a patent for it.  As Jane Wurwand, founder of Dermalogica says "I own it all and thank god for that!"

Morning Beauty

Los Angeles has four seasons; Hot High Winds, Hellacious Fire, Oven Heat, and Deluge Rains.

Upon waking up this morning in the middle of Deluge Rain season, I thought I would show that it looks like from our backyard at 6:30AM.

The trees are bare, the fog has rolled in and we are in day 2 of the rainy season.  Please note the the Ash tree on the right just lost its leaves in the last week and will begin sprouting new growth first of  February.  The Maple on the left lost all it's leaves right after New Year's and will begin sprouting in March.  Our seasons are short and to the point.
Unlike those beautiful landscape pictures of red, yellows and orange falls or the snow-covered car in the driveway, this is most likely the only 'winter scene' day we will have here in Los Angeles.

So I will enjoy this quiet morning with a cup of coffee and the Jake the cat on my lap. 

Belgium Cousins

Just got a call from Michelle and Nathalie. They arrived in San Francisco safe and sound, are sleepy and looking for a great restaurant to eat at. Any suggestions?

My Think Tank moments.

I am in dire need of a morning in the garden to myself to think about what I need to think about. It's the way I sort items out. Those items that require less immediate action and a thought or two about how to go about the action. What will it do for my business, costs involved; time and money, how will this affect my my life, and etc. etc. etc.

The joy of the garden is to do a physical activity with a visible result while doing something that has no physical manifestation of the action: thinking!

On the list to think about how America just loves its drama. Why are we so into drama of the human being? Why do we love to scare ourselves? Why do we resist change, yet change at such a rapid rate that we can't keep up! The right wing is worried about the left wing and the left wing is worried about the right wing. Well two wings, working together mean flight is possible. So why are they not flying together. Means it just one grounded bird.

You get the idea....

So off to the garden I go in the morning to pull ivy off the hillside and think about what I need to think about.

And you? What do you think about?